Privacy Policy

Introduction

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) respects your right to privacy as you visit our website.

We are committed to protecting privacy and confidentiality of your information by complying with our legal obligations under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004.

The following policy governs the CPSO’s practices with respect to information obtained through this website.

The CPSO’s practices with respect to information received or created to fulfill its regulatory duties are outlined in the CPSO’s Privacy Code.

Scope

This policy applies only to this website (http://www.cpso.on.ca). It does not cover the practices of other organizations or their websites, including those you may access through the links provided on the CPSO’s homepage.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of all websites you visit, especially if you provide any personal information.

What information we collect

When you visit our website, we automatically collect some limited information. This is not personal information and cannot directly identify a specific person. For example, we track the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or browser type of users who access our website. This is necessary for the operation and security of our website.

At times, you may choose to give us your personal information. For example, we collect your email address when you ask questions through feedback@cpso.on.ca. This information is provided only to College staff who need it to respond to your request.

We may also use this website to conduct electronic consultations in which individuals or organizations are invited to provide comments. If you send comments to us via the website, we will collect your comments and your contact details for the purposes of the consultation concerned. If you do not wish us to collect and use your comments in this way, please do not forward them.

In addition, we analyze non-identifiable website traffic data and collect cookies to improve our services. A “cookie” is a piece of text that our webserver can store on your computer. The cookies we use log your progress through the site and record how you accessed the site. They do not collect any personal information about you or about any other use of your computer.

There are no persistent or third party site cookies such as banner ad tracking cookies on our website.

If you simply browse or download from our website, we do not collect any personal information.

How we use the information

We only use your personal information for the purposes for which you give it to us. We keep the information for only as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it is collected.

We do not share your personal information with other organizations or individuals unless:

it is necessary to fulfill your request

it is required or authorized by law

it will prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to somebody’s health or safety.

Disclaimer

Although we make every effort to ensure that all information posted on our website is accurate and complete, we do not represent that it is so, or guarantee it, and accept no liability or obligation for accuracy or completeness. We reserve the right to update the information as necessary without notice. You should check the website from time to time for changes. If there is any discrepancy between information posted on our website and the original paper version, the original paper document prevails. As this website is for information purposes only, you should seek appropriate, qualified advice before acting or omitting to act based upon any such information.

How to contact us

Contact us at feedback@cpso.on.ca about any of your privacy concerns or to suggest further improvements to this website. Alternatively, you can write to us at:

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
80 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
M5G 2E2

Communications Code of Conduct

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is committed to communicating with you in a respectful, professional and civil manner. Similarly, we expect the same courtesy from you.

We understand that the circumstances or issues that you are communicating with the College about may be stressful. However, we will not accept abusive behaviour or communications towards our staff. This would include threats, vexatious or harassing comments or conduct, sexual harassment, intimidation, yelling or screaming, or obscene, racist or discriminatory statements.

The College is required by law to protect staff from abusive behaviour and will not tolerate such behaviour against our staff. Repeated behaviour of this kind may result in the College communicating with you only in writing or otherwise restricting future communications with you.